Counting Shadows [complete]

Chapter 12

I looked intently at my empty ice cream cup. Ice cream usually helps with my inner calm and general well-being. Shame it seemed I would need a second one. I focused on the problem at hand avoiding both Jonathan's and Jake's glares. I decided that I was in charge of the situation.

"Well, that's easy. We will just connect with her and sort it out," I was confident it sounded both vague and determined enough, that they would not doubt me.

"I guess you know where is she buried?" I asked Jonathan. No matter how the situation unfolded, I was sure we needed to be as close to her as possible.

"No...." Jonathan's answer was more a whisper. I didn't expect the complication.

"What do you mean, you don't know where is she buried? I can, perhaps, do some magic, but seriously, I don't do miracles." Now, maybe it was sorted before we even started. I looked intently into his eyes, trying to be firm. It was not a good idea as I realised he had really deep grey eyes. He looked a bit hurt, somewhere behind the wall of indifference that projects vampires against the world. He averted his eyes first.

"I don't know," he repeated and then before I could say anything or mock him, he added: "Well, Annie's mother never told me where she was buried."

This was getting ridiculous. I looked at Jake for some sign of support, but he was clearly uncomfortable. This whole business of seeing Jonathan vulnerable was not agreeing with him and he pretended to focus on his BicMac. I internally smacked myself. It was absurd to think Jake would be of any help at all. I decided diplomacy was my best luck.

"You didn't bother to ask her mother?" I hadn't realised that while diplomacy was my best bet, I was definitely not good at it. Jonathan's stare hardened and I could feel he was fighting a growl. This was getting interesting, I was sitting with an upset vampire in the middle of the night at McDonald's. If I pushed him enough, would he try to snap my neck or something? Would anyone around even care?

"Easy there," I was not sure who Jake talked to - Jonathan or me. "Clearly, we will have to look into some documents or something. There must be a list of people buried back then, you couldn't just bury people anywhere." Jake sounded surprisingly like he knew what he was talking about. It did make a sense, though it would mean lots of work in some library or so. It was the first time he talked in a long time. Though for a second I considered that, similarly to me, he might be only bluffing.

"Actually, maybe we could ask her mother," Jonathan offered. I looked from Jake at him.

"What do you mean?" I asked though I felt like I could have guessed the answer anyway.

"Well, you could just talk to her, no? The same way you are planning to talk to Annie," he explained his logical thinking. Yes, it did sound logical, I just didn't like it. At all.

"I will want the blood after that," I said. I was almost ready to deal with one ghost, not two. I could have just disappeared once I had the blood. However, Jonathan just shook his head.

"Double the work but the same payment?" I was really feeling like he was using me.

"Ask for something else. I am not giving you the blood so you can disappear." I guess vampires can read minds... I thought about it for a moment while observing Jake eating.

"I want the crystal," I said in the end. If anything, they would not be able to track me. Jake paused eating. Jonathan nodded in agreement.

"Would you know where her mother is buried?" I continued and he nodded. I frowned. "How come?" I found it odd not to know where his sweetheart was buried, while he knew her mother's whereabouts.

Jonathan shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I buried her."